Sarpanch’s husband shot dead by Maoists

Gun wielding Maoists shot dead the husband of a Sarpanch at a village in Odisha’s Rayagada district early today, police said. A group of about 25 armed ultras, including women cadre, stormed into the house of the Sarpanch, Lahari Bagaranga, at Hanumantpur village in Chandrapur area, about 120 km from here in the early hours, the police said. The ultra-left rebels asked her husband Deba Bagaranga (40) to accompany them and then shot him dead in the village, the police said. Several posters and banners were put up by the Maoists near the site of the killing. The reason behind the killing was yet to be ascertained, the police said. Combing operation has been launched by the security forces and patrolling intensified.